So far, this season is shaping up like 2007 only without the shocking upsets so far. What we have seen, however, are competitive games up and down the rankings—the results of parity.

Change usually happens the way this is shaking out: Increasingly close scores between teams that are perceived to have wildly divergent levels of talent.

Last year was the shock-to-the-system statistical aberration, week after week of upsets—so many that the word ceased becoming meaningful. But those statistical anomalies occur from time to time for a reason no one can figure out.

So what we’re seeing this season, and what we’ll continue to see more and more of, is the sort of parity that, I hope, will put an end to preseason polls (doubtful), and postponing regular season polls until teams have played at least three games.

A number of factors contribute to this parity: Each Division I school has been limited to 85 scholarships since 1994. During that same time, we’ve seen the rise of Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday night football on the ESPN family of networks, meaning more exposure for more teams. This means that high school kids for the first time see Bowling Green State on TV, and given a choice between starting at BGSU or sitting on the bench at Nebraska or LSU—now they have an option.

Further, more kids are playing football now than before, increasing the talent pool. Schools that were too small to play 11-man football now play in 8-on-8 leagues, and colleges are recruiting them.

WVU has played East Carolina for years; it has usually been an early-season warm-up game, a sure victory as the Mountaineers prepped for Big East play.

No more. Next year, ECU will lose its senior quarterback, who carved up WVU. But the Pirates will no longer be a gimme on the Mountaineers’s schedule.

And forget about Southern Cal—Ohio State may think twice about playing Ohio University again.